Some Observing Tips - Meade Infinity AZ 80 Instruction Manual

in your eyepiece inside the circle. The
best exercise for drawing is to observe
10
the moons of Jupiter every night or so.
Try to make Jupiter and the moons
approximately the same size as they look in
your eyepiece. You will see that the moons
are in a different position every night. As you
get better at drawing, try more challenging
sights, like a crater system on the moon or
even a nebula.
Go your library or check out the internet for
more information about astronomy. Learn
about the basics: light years, orbits, star
colors, how stars and planets are formed,
red shift, the big bang, what are the different
kinds of nebula, what are comets, asteroids
and meteors and what is a black hole. The
more you learn about astronomy, the more
fun, and the more rewarding your telescope
will become.

SOME OBSERVING TIPS

Eyepieces: Always begin your observa-
tions using the 26mm low-power eyepiece.
The 26mm eyepiece delivers a bright, wide
field of view and is the best to use for most
viewing conditions. Use the high-power 9mm
eyepiece to view details when observing
the Moon and planets. If the image become
fuzzy, switch back down to a lower power.
Changing eyepieces changes the power or
magnification of your telescope.
You can also change magnification by using
a Barlow lens. The Barlow lens included with
your telescope doubles the power of your
telescope. Place the Barlow into the eye-
piece holder before you insert the eyepiece.
Meade offers a complete line of eyepieces
and Barlows for your telescope. Most astron-
omers have four or five low-power and high
power eyepieces to view different objects
and to cope with different viewing conditions.
Objects move in the eyepiece: If you are
observing an astronomical object (the Moon,
a planet, star, etc.) you will notice that the
object will begin to move slowly through
the telescopic field of view. This movement
is caused by the rotation of the Earth and
makes an object move through the tele-
scope's field of view. To keep astronomical
objects centered in the field, simply move
the telescope on one or both of its axes—
vertically and/or horizontally as needed—try
using the telescopes coarse and fine adjust-
ment controls(11 & 12). At higher powers,
astronomical objects will seem to move
through the field of view of the eyepiece
more rapidly.
Place the object to be viewed at the edge
of the field and, without touching the tele-
scope, watch it drift through the field to the
other side before repositioning the telescope
so that the object to be viewed is again
STAR CHARTS
Star charts and planispheres are useful for a variety of
reasons. In particular, they are a great aid in planning a
night of celestial viewing.
A wide variety of star charts are available in books,
in magazines, on the internet and on CD Roms.
Meade offers AutoStar Suite software. Contact your
TM
local Meade dealer or Meade's Customer Service
department for more information.
Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines print
star charts each month for up-to-the-minute maps of
the heavens.
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